Bad news for any pro-AT&T users like myself, or AT&T themselves, the Chair of the US Senate’s Anti-trust Subcommittee (Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis.) is seeking to block the AT&T - T-Mobile merger. He had this to say:
”I have concluded that this acquisition, if permitted to proceed, would likely cause substantial harm to competition and consumers, would be contrary to antitrust law and not in the public interest, and therefore should be blocked by your agencies.”
Top Democrats of the house also agreed, stating the following:
“We believe that AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile would be a troubling backward step in federal public policy–a retrenchment from nearly two decades of promoting competition and open markets to acceptance of a duopoly in the wireless marketplace,” House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairwoman Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and House Judiciary ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., wrote in their letter to FCC and the Justice Department. ”Such industry consolidation could reduce competition and increase consumer costs at a time our country can least afford it.”
While this news may come as a surprise (nothing as of yet has come up trying to block the merger, beyond this), we can’t imagine this is the final decision on the acquisition. We expect AT&T may have a few words to say, but nothing has come up so far.
Via: 9-to-5 Mac
